JOHN ROGERS: I have two other movies in development at DreamWorks. After reading my stuff, Mr. Spielberg asked if I would take a shot at it. There aren't a lot of guys for whom giant robots don't involve a rather large learning curve, so again, my geek lifestyle gets me in ...

IGNFF: What drew you to the world of Transformers? Were you a fan of it beforehand?

ROGERS: I was a big fan as a kid. It was one of those tricks of age that once I grew out of it as a toy, I kind of assumed it no longer existed. It was a bit of a shock to find out they're still such major cultural icons. My new hobby is collecting ads from around the world starring cars transforming into funky robots. It's amazing how many there are. From a writing standpoint, what drew me to it was the chance to write wide-screen fights on a scale not often done in Hollywood, and also cool human characters faced with such bizarre revelations.

IGNFF: Your background is in science. Will you be drawing on any of that for this project or is it all going to be strictly make-believe?

ROGERS: Dude. Energon crystal. Seriously.

IGNFF: Finally, what can we expect from the human characters in this story? Anything you can reveal about what they do or who they are?

ROGERS: It's a big-scale movie. Ordinary humans who discover the robots, scientists who tinker with That What Must Not Be Tinkered With, and cool soldier-types teaming up with our new Autobot friends. The name "Witwicky" will be spoken. Even now, I say too much.